Two detained over woman's 'bone-melting water' death

Police in Hangzhou, neighboring Zhejiang Province, said on Thursday they have detained two men following the death of a woman earlier this month from exposure to "bone-melting water," better known as hydrofluoric acid, abandoned at a demolished house site.

Police said the victim, Tu, 52, a Jiangxi Province native living in Xianlin Subdistrict, was planting vegetables with two friends on a hillside near a residential complex on September 9.

While walking through rubble, she stepped on a white plastic container, breaking it and spilling its contents onto her foot. The liquid – later confirmed as hydrofluoric acid – caused intense pain. She was hospitalized but later died despite treatment, according to police.

Police found two other sealed barrels of hydrofluoric acid at the site. They said the barrels had been left around 2015 by a man surnamed Ai, 52, who used the chemical for exterior wall cleaning. He had stored them in a small house where his 87-year-old father once lived before the family moved out.

The two men have been taken into custody as investigation in the case continues. Police told thepaper.cn that the site has since been declared safe.

Hydrofluoric acid, a colorless and pungent-smelling corrosive liquid, is widely used in industries such as semiconductors, electronics, glassmaking, and metal processing. It is considered one of the most dangerous industrial chemicals, as even small amounts can cause severe tissue burns and potentially fatal systemic poisoning.